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The Iranian judiciary announced that it had executed the alleged leader of a women trafficking network in the country. The leader allegedly trafficked women to neighboring countries for prostitution.
On Saturday, the Iranian judiciary announced that it has executed Shahrooz Sokhanvari, also known as “Alex,” who Tehran alleges is the leader of the “escort and trafficking network of Iranian women and girls to come countries in the region,” according to the judiciary’s Mizan news outlet. The report said Sokhanvari was executed on Saturday morning over the “crime of human trafficking for the purpose of prostitution.”
This follows a report back in 2020 by Iranian media that Sokhanvari was arrested and detained in Malaysia under the coordination of the Iranian government and Interpol and brought back to Iran. Sokhanvari was sentenced to death in September 2021 on charges of “corruption on Earth,” which is what Iranian authorities refer to as a range of offenses, including those involving morals.
The HRANA news outlet said several women were also arrested on the same charges and are facing serious charges. In a report this week by Amnesty International, executions in Iran rose from 314 in 2021 to 576 in 2022, making it the second-highest after China.
In 2017, the United States under former President Donald Trump added Iran to a US list of countries accused of failing to crack down on human trafficking. By 2019, Washington once again designated Iran as a “Tier-3 country,” a ranking of countries that do very little to tackle crime. The US, under its Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, does not provide non-humanitarian, non-trade-related foreign assistance to any country that does not comply with the minimum standards for cracking down on trafficking and is not making any effort to do so.
On Sunday, the Iranian judiciary also announced that it had executed three more people on drug-related charges despite continued criticism of its upholding of the death penalty over such offenses. The three men, Shahab Mansournasab, Samad Gervand, and Saeed Geravand, were hanged after they were convicted of possession of 39 kilograms of heroin and precursors and processing equipment. The three men were also charged with “corruption on Earth” by the judiciary.
Photo: Farzad Mohsenvand/Unsplash
